All Care Guides

Feline bordetellosis is a contagious respiratory infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella bronchiseptica. While this bacterium may be the primary cause of the disease, it can also be secondary (related) to various viral infections. Cats of all ages may contract this disease, although it typically occurs in younger cats.

Feline upper airway infections, sometimes called upper respiratory infections, are very common. They resemble the common cold in people and are characterized by clinical signs such as sneezing, wheezing, and discharge from the eyes and nose. Along with the rhinotracheitis virus, feline calicivirus (FCV) is responsible for most feline upper respiratory infections.

Feline chlamydiosis (also called feline pneumonitis) is caused by the bacterial organism Chlamydophila felis (C. felis). The C. felis organism does not live for very long in the environment, so infection is generally spread through direct or close contact with a sick cat. Because infected cats sometimes sneeze, contact with these droplets can also spread the infection.

Diabetes mellitus is an illness caused by the body’s inability to either make or use insulin, which is a hormone produced and released by specialized cells in the pancreas. Insulin permits the body’s cells to take sugar (glucose) from the blood and use it for their metabolism and other functions. Diabetes mellitus develops when the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin or when the body’s cells are unable to use available insulin to take glucose from the blood.

Feline distemper is the common name for the feline panleukopenia virus (FPV), also called feline parvovirus. Despite the name feline distemper, this contagious disease does not affect a cat’s temperament. Rather, FPV causes serious disease in infected cats and can be fatal.

Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) is also contagious among cats. Unlike many other viruses that enter specific cells in the body and destroy them, FeLV enters certain cells in a cat’s body and changes the cells’ genetic characteristics. This permits FeLV to continue reproducing within the cat each time infected cells divide. This allows FeLV to become dormant (inactive) in some cats, making disease transmission and prognosis (outlook) difficult to predict.